Glastonbury High Senior Fights For Her Artwork And Message

Peter Marteka, hc

Glastonbury High School senior Emily Mann poses with her controversial artwork about body shaming and censorship at the school's annual art show Wednesday. School officials originally thought the art was too controversial to be shown, but ended up allowing Mann to show it because of the importance of its message

Glastonbury High School senior Emily Mann poses with her controversial artwork about body shaming and censorship at the school's annual art show Wednesday. School officials originally thought the art was too controversial to be shown, but ended up allowing Mann to show it because of the importance of its message (Peter Marteka, hc)

Glastonbury High School senior's artwork on body shaming and censorship is banned, then reinstated.

GLASTONBURY — Emily Mann said when she found out that she couldn't display the project she had spent months working on at the annual art show, she went home and cried.

Then her mother offered her some advice: Give up or do something about it.

So she decided to fight for her art and her message.

Mann's controversial artwork focused on body shaming and censorship. It included a painting of a naked woman with strategically placed red boxes over body parts containing the words "pornographic," "sinful," "crude" and "tasteless."

The artwork came with messages along the side including: "Don't teach women how to dress, teach men how to behave" and "There's nothing shameful about your body."

When the school system's art director, Cindy Parsons, and Principal Nancy Bean saw the art on Tuesday, they told Mann, a senior at Glastonbury High School, it would not be displayed at the show.

Annual student exhibition

But by Wednesday morning, Superintendent Alan B. Bookman met with Parsons and assistant Superintendent Rosemary Tralli and reversed the decision, allowing Mann to display her work.

"I was devastated," Mann said Wednesday of the original decision as she stood proudly by her artwork at the show. "I wanted to say something and get a message across of what I'm about. It's an issue I'm passionate about — shaming and censorship of the female body. It was totally crushing."

It was that strong message that won over Bookman.

"We all looked at it together and decided it had a good message and art is supposed to have a message," he said Wednesday night. "It's a good message for our students to hear. We have to be open and listen to the message students are trying to give to adults and their fellow students."

Peter Marteka, hc

Glastonbury High School senior Emily Mann poses with her controversial artwork about body shaming and censorship at the school's annual art show Wednesday. School officials originally thought the art was too controversial to be shown, but ended up allowing Mann to show it because of the importance of its message.

Glastonbury High School senior Emily Mann poses with her controversial artwork about body shaming and censorship at the school's annual art show Wednesday. School officials originally thought the art was too controversial to be shown, but ended up allowing Mann to show it because of the importance of its message. (Peter Marteka, hc)

Mann said she has been made fun of because of her body and has seen it happen to others. In one of her messages, she wrote: "We teach girls shame: close your legs, cover yourself. We make them feel as though by being born female, they're already guilty."

"Art is the perfect place to make a statement," she said. "Body shaming is something teens are dealing with every day. This whole ordeal has shown me I do have power. People can get behind me when I am pursuing something I feel is important. It has shown me if you feel passionate about getting your point across, just fight for it."

Mann said she had many students approach her at school or on Facebook and Instagram telling her they were proud of her fight for her art.